Genius, witch, warrior, now vampire!
by orangefruit.21
Summary: After the defeat of Voldemort and the death of Ron, Hermione is a lonely warrior without a war to fight. Lost, she starts travelling around Europe and one day takes a tour to Volterra and meets the Volturi. Eventually Hermione/Jasper. Rating may change, I'm not sure.
1. Chapter 1: What now?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the plot.**

 **A/N: This is AU so if things are different and don't make sense or you don't like something just go with it, don't read it or post a polite comment. I would also like to point out that I am in no way a professional writer, so if there's a mistake in grammar, British vs American accents, etc. please be nice about it! I wrote this for fun after being inspired by other fanfics and did my best to edit. I might make some changes as the story goes on, so sorry if things randomly change or don't make sense for a while. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I'm sorry if you don't, but this is written mostly for my own entertainment so oh well!**

 **Chapter 1: What now?**

Hermione had done everything she could for the war. Even before Voldemort was resurrected, in fact ever since facing the obstacle course leading to Quirrel with Harry and Ron in first year, she knew that Harry would have to face Voldemort and win one day. And she knew that she would be right beside him the whole way there. It was inevitable, and they absolutely had to win. For Harry, Ron, all of their friends and their classmates, for everyone in the wizarding world and even in the muggle world. Every mistake would cost lives.

So, Hermione did absolutely everything she could. Until that first year of Hogwarts she continuously worked to be the smartest and best to make her parents and the world proud, as well as to finally be accepted and have friends to care for her and support her. The manner in which she befriended Harry and Ron, fighting a mountain troll that a professor had released into the school, shifted her priorities. While she had finally gained one of the things she had chased her whole life, friends who cared about her, she had seen how easily all could be lost. Her life, her friends' lives, order, justice and the lives of everyone in the wizarding and muggle worlds could have been destroyed that night if the troll had succeeded in killing Harry, Ron and herself while Quirrel/Voldemort had succeeded in obtaining the Philosopher's Stone.

After that night, Hermione studied not to be the one who shone brightest and everyone looked up to and admired, but the one who could support Harry and keep him and everyone else alive. The one who could keep their worlds in order. While Harry was her friend and for that alone she worked hard to help him in any way possible, she also knew that everything always centered around him. His success or failure against Voldemort defined everything. And while Divination was usually rubbish, there was a certain truth to the prophecy of Harry having the power and responsibility to defeat Voldemort. Yes, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, but Voldemort made it come true nonetheless. Still, nobody ever said that Harry had to do it all alone with no help.

While he did not ask, Hermione felt that it was her duty. She could tell Ron felt it too. She read and learned everything in the hopes of it one day being useful and making the difference between success and failure, life and death (like the obscure knowledge of the love of music of the Cerberus). Ron tried to keep Harry happy and in as normal a mental state as possible. Together, they evened out Harry's personality and tried to cover his weaknesses, (lack of time to research and aversion to asking questions drilled into him by his relatives, as well as propensity to sulk and shoulder all of the responsibility himself). Eventually, Harry learned to rely on both of them and they became the Golden Trio, not just the Boy Who Lived.

This is why while Harry learned Occlumency in fifth year with Professor Snape, Hermione studied Occlumency and Legilimency on her own and tried to teach some basics to Ron as well. It came much more naturally to her with her pre-existing urges to organize everything and natural ability to visualize than to Ron who had never done anything like this before and whose personality was more relaxed and sloppy. Eventually, during the summers at Grimmauld Place, Hermione even managed to convince Professor Snape to test her shields and give her some pointers.

This is also why during the times spent at Grimmauld Place, she read all books pertaining to the Dark Arts she could in order to understand what they were up against and secretly practiced some spells as well. She knew it corrupted the soul, but she knew she could never defeat someone like Bellatrix Lestrange using spells like _Stupefy_ alone. She tried to teach Harry and Ron the most useful and least damaging spells, but she was cautious, because Harry and Ron seemed too tempted to snap already. Harry struggled with the horcrux in his head and his guilt over not doing enough and Ron had feelings of not being good enough compared to his siblings and now his friends. Both could easily push them to lose themselves in dark magic; it had happened many times before to similar wizards Hermione read about.

Yet with Hermione's organization of her thoughts thanks to Occlumency, she knew herself very well. While she felt the corruption due to the ability to kill and torture easily and the little urge to do it every time she was upset, she could recognize that part of herself and stop it. She directed these thoughts and feelings towards those who needed to be dealt with ruthlessly, the truly evil killers like Bellatrix and Anton Dolohov who could not go free. Not unless she wanted to be responsible for more loss of life.

She knew that some people knew that she was practicing Dark magic, like Remus Lupin, Professor Snape and Mad-Eye Moody. She saw them keeping an eye on her, but they recognized that she was still in control of herself. Hermione appreciated it and asked them to help her learn how to fight better. They all had different yet similar styles. All were completely aware of their surroundings (Constant Vigilance!) and used them to their advantage. Yet some used quieter, sneakier and actually deadlier spells (Snape) while others hit with a bang to throw their opponents off balance and distract others (Moody). Hermione learned all of these methods and combined them to make herself a truly unpredictable, creative and ruthlessly efficient opponent. Furthermore, she used summers with her parents to learn some Muggle fighting techniques and kept practicing year round. At her mentors' insistence, she also stayed fit by taking up running and agility training. After the discovery of the Room of Requirement in fifth year, she often trained there alone with obstacle courses and practice dummies.

At the start of sixth year, Hermione asked Professor McGonagall to give her secret Animagus lessons. She argued that it could be a great way to escape certain situations and stay hidden. Finally, her professor gave in. Hermione learned quickly as usual and by the end of sixth year she had the alternate form of a red fox that only Professor McGonagall knew about. They smiled when she first transformed, as the red fox was curious, adaptable, a predator and a prey, and usually travelled in a small group.

She was becoming a great soldier. Even better was that her small, lithe frame hid her fitness. No one would suspect that the short, bookish girl was constantly aware of her surroundings and escape routes, was trained in hand to hand combat and could almost duel on par with Mad-Eye Moody. Hermione even noticed that she was starting to do some spells wandlessly due to the feeling of her magic expanding and feeling the connection between herself and it growing stronger.

Still, she kept all of this a secret. No one needed to know. Likewise, no one needed to know that during the Horcrux hunt, she would disappear on her times to watch while setting a monitoring charm to hunt some small power Death Eaters and torture them for information. This practice also improved her Legilimency skills. Later, she would either obliviate them if they would be missed, or kill them if they wouldn't. It was hard at first, but necessary she told herself. She passed the information to Remus via an enchanted wolf pin (working like the DA coin in fifth year).

Still, all this was not quite enough. Yes, they won the Final Battle and Harry beat Voldemort and came out alive. But Ron did not. Professor Snape did not. Remus, Tonks, Lavender, Colin, and so many others did not. And to herself, Hermione admitted that perhaps she did not quite make it either.

While Harry grieved for Ron, he could move on somehow. He comforted the Weasleys, started a relationship with Ginny, went to Auror training, re-modelled Grimmauld Place, took care of Teddy part time, hunted rogue Death Eaters and promoted the message of moving on while continuing to protect the wizarding world. He really was a perfect hero.

Meanwhile, Hermione felt hollow. Voldemort was dead. Harry could manage on his own. Ron, her constant companion and sympathizer was dead. Remus, Mad-Eye and Professor Snape, her mentors who would have understood, were dead. And she was still a soldier, changed by the Dark Arts, torture, killing, training and paranoia. Yet there was no more war for her to fight.

She could no longer interact with people easily. She simply did not know what to talk about. All of their topics seemed faded and unnecessary to her. While logically she knew she should be helping rebuild, comforting, perhaps studying to argue for creature rights or Healing, she knew she could not. Not anymore. Not when she was still wired to fight, to move, to constantly watch for threats.

So she left. They no longer needed her. She would simply hold them back from returning to their normal lives. Even her own parents with their memories restored would no longer recognize what their daughter had become. They would not understand. No one who she knew and was alive would understand. She simply did not belong. So she left to travel, to learn more about the world, to find herself a new place to fit, to get away.

While almost all parts of the old eleven year old Hermione were gone, there were three aspects left: her need to belong somewhere, her drive to improve and her curiosity. She still felt the need to explore, to know more, to do more. So that is what she focused on. She traveled around Europe. She felt numb but her curiosity focused her mind on books, languages, architecture, art, anything to distract from the the feeling of guilt, failure and violent anger. She sent Harry an owl once a week to keep him from worrying and continued to drift and absorb knowledge. Until one day she took a tour to Volterra.


	2. Chapter 2: Seriously, now what?

**A/N: This type of vampires does not know about the wizarding world and the wizarding world does not know about these vampires. It may be unlikely, but more fun to write about for me :)**

 **Chapter 2: Seriously, now what?**

Hermione had sent Harry a message via an enchanted journal a few days basically going like this:

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I am exploring Vienna, Austria. I enjoy seeing and learning more of the history of the Habsburg family. I'm glad you are working hard at Auror training, but please be careful and stay vigilant: there are still a few Death Eaters seeking vengeance and you should not let your guard down. Teddy, Ginny and so many others need you. Speaking of which, give them both a hug for me!_

 _Love,_

 _Hermione_

He had replied with:

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _Teddy and Ginny both say hello, so do all of the Weasleys. Yes, of course I'm staying alert and I'm being careful… as careful as I, Harry Potter the Danger Magnet, can be. Teddy is an adorable handful and to make matters worse George brought him some baby Weasley's Wizard Wheezes (safe, no sharp edges, non-toxic). He managed to turn Ginny's hair turquoise like his usually is! She didn't know whether to coo at him, laugh, cry or scold him. He is a true son of a Marauder._

 _We all miss you, but I understand why you needed to leave and I hope you enjoy your travels. Let us know if there is anything you need and enjoy!_

 _Your best friend forever and always,_

 _Harry_

Hermione always had mixed feelings about writing to Harry. On the one hand, she was happy for everyone back home and she would always be a little worried about everyone, especially Harry. On the other hand, she always felt a little jealous of their abilities to move on and these exchanges reminded her of the war and her isolation. She felt as though they functioned better without her. This is why Hermione usually felt the need to move after writing to Harry. She decided to head south shortly after receiving Harry's reply.

Wanting to stay under the radar, especially of wizards, Hermione travelled muggle. Her transportation of choice was by train. No need to fly (something she still did not feel comfortable with) and no need to look after a car (although she loved admiring them and sometimes rented a fast sports car for a day). Trains were beautiful and often historic, as well as comfortable due to the fact that they stayed on the ground and had lots of space to move around in.

She travelled through Italy, staying in a few towns for a few days each. She took the time to walk and explore each one and started learning some Italian phrases. Since she still carried everything she needed in her beaded bag from the Horcrux hunt, moving around was easy. She had money from her parents' college fund for her, (something she still might look into in the future) as well as the Galleons given to her by the Ministry for the defeat of Voldemort converted to various Muggle currencies.

She dressed simply and comfortably, trying to blend in. However, it was summer in Europe now and so it was very warm, therefore almost impossible to wear long sleeves and keep her wand in a holster on her arm. She trusted her abilities in wandless magic to be able to defend herself for a few moments and summon her wand from her beaded bag quickly if need be. Besides, she told herself, she was in the muggle world now where attacks that she even needed magic to defend against were highly unlikely.

This is how Hermione ended up walking through Volterra with a tour. She had been exploring, when she was offered a unique opportunity to go on an "exclusive tour to a private, mystery palace". Intrigued, Hermione had briefly looked into the woman's interesting violet eyes and glanced her surface thoughts. Apparently it was a tour of Volterra and the Piazza dei Priori. Hermione also noticed that the woman looked at her strangely and was trying to figure a scent. She was thinking of desserts including chocolate cake and Nutella covered crepes while explaining the tour. Hermione thought this slightly odd, but thought that the beautiful woman was simply distracted by something she had smelled and was trying to place it. Hermione couldn't smell anything like that, but maybe her sense of smell wasn't as good? Still, she had never before heard of tours going to the Piazza dei Priori before, so she jumped at the opportunity to see this piece of history. Also, Hermione was drawn to the mysterious woman who was to be the tour guide, Heidi.

During the tour, Hermione noticed that Heidi was insanely beautiful and easily held the attention of the others on her tour, but her commentary was lacking. Also, her instincts and magic were reacting to her strangely. They screamed at Hermione to be alert yet her magic was also drawn to her. She did not know what to make of this. Combined with the incredibly pale skin as well as the inhuman grace this made Hermione more curious than ever. Perhaps the woman was not quite human, Veela? Part Veela? Part something else? She had not read about any magical creature that matched Heidi completely. Yet, more than anyone, Hermione advocated creature rights and knew that they needed to make a living too and some preferred to do this in the muggle world. So while keeping an eye on Heidi, she ignored the commentary and focused on the magnificent architecture surrounding her. It was rather dark, but that was quite common in old buildings to preserve paintings and other artifacts better so Hermione did not pay this much mind.

This place was truly amazing. Hermione's inner Ravenclaw delighted as she took in the architecture and shelves full of old books scattered around the palace. She wondered if she could talk to someone to get permission to study them. As she looked around for anyone in charge of the books, she couldn't help but notice that the other tourists barely even glanced at the architecture or the books. Instead they were staring at Heidi and following her like mindless sheep. While Hermione acknowledged the fact that Heidi had beauty and a special something that drew people to her, she still felt very sad to see the tourists ignoring this historic place that most would never get to see. It reminded her of another reason why she left the Wizarding World and why she was drifting through Europe with no idea of what to do in her future.

All of her life, Hermione had been frustrated with people. When she was a young genius desperately learning all she could, other children would mock her and bully her for being different, smarter and in some ways, better. When she learned she was a witch and started Hogwarts, people bullied and belittled her not only for her eagerness to learn and natural talent, but also for being Muggleborn, something she could not control and had no effect whatsoever on her abilities. Any logical person could see that the only advantage Purebloods had was created by wizards and could easily be nullified through early education and immersion for Muggleborns, as well as a more democratic approach to Wizarding Government. Really, Purebloods were simply inbred, old and rich families, very similar to historic Muggle families in control. And just like the Muggles, the old Wizarding families did not want to give up power and control. This is why even after the war, Hermione knew that things would not change much for Muggleborns.

If she had gotten a ministry job to try and change things like Gryffindor, first year Hermione dreamed of, it would be a long process of dealing with snooty Purebloods who looked down at her and fought her every step of the way. It would be trying to argue rationally and justly against people who were neither rational nor just. Almost every aspect of wizarding society was irrational and most saw nothing wrong with this, because this is how it was for oh so many years, never mind that this kind of thinking led to the Wizarding Wars with Voldemort. This stagnation was probably what caused so many to originally become Death Eaters and rebel, before they were consumed by hatred and power. There were two pulls on the Wizarding World: the pull to come out into the open with Muggles and merge societies and the pull to stay fully separate and hidden while embracing traditions (mostly Pureblood view). While either choice could eventually work as a long term solution with a lot of sacrifice, the Wizarding World is split and so tries to humor both views. By doing this nothing truly changes, the constant struggle between the two continues and things get worse, not better.

This is why Hermione decided to leave the Wizarding World for the time being. She doubted that she alone could sort out the mess and Harry and the others were too focused on their own peaceful lives and families to fully support her in this lifelong quest. She even doubted that she wanted to spend her life on this tedious task, because after just under ten years of dealing with the stupidity and prejudice of the Wizarding World, she was tired of it all. Those in power stay in power by keeping the rest as sheep firmly believing in everything being alright and old prejudices being logical. She was sick of it. Every time Hermione thought of it, the Gryffindor in her striving for equality and justice died a little. In some ways the fight against Voldemort was simpler: find and destroy Horcruxes, protect Harry, fight Death Eaters and Voldemort. Now, there was nothing left for the soldier in her, or even the witch and genius, because even if she were to work in the Department of Mysteries to research magic, there were still people who oversaw the research and would judge her for her blood and not her knowledge. Even after the Final Battle, many still view her as the Mudblood who tagged along with the Saviour by dating both Harry and Ron, not for her skills.

Escaping into the Muggle World, Hermione realized that things were different and yet the same. With or without magic, people were still people. Here, instead of magic, people were growing to depend on technology. They also depended on their governments and did not question decisions or what they were told. Even on tour groups, tourists did not question the information given to them, they simply oohed and ahhed in the right places and walked on. These attitudes caused those in power to stay in power, things never to truly change and prejudices and bullying against those were different to remain a problem. After all that she had gone through to save as many people as possible, Hermione could not help but feel bitter. This is why when she left England, she tried to shut off her Gryffindor side itching for a fight and raving about the injustice. Instead, she tried to focus on her Ravenclaw side that thirsted for new knowledge and calmly analyzed people without feeling any attachment to them. This was simpler and it really helped her deal with the mad world she lived in.

Finally, the tour group entered a room that seemed to be a ballroom used as an archive. Hermione's eyes were instantly drawn to the many books and pieces of parchment along the walls while she continued to ignore her magic and instincts screaming at her as they had been the whole tour. All that knowledge! So many texts that so few had read. If only Hermione could track the owners of this place and get them to allow her access to the texts. She could not look away, she tried to squint and she if she could read any titles. With this tour she dared not use magic to enhance her vision or to try and sneak some texts away, and with these thoughts Hermione was distracted when she heard the doors close.

Automatically, she turned to the sound and while she was distracted and a little startled by the sound, she felt herself being hit by a large, hard mass from the back and piercing pain in her neck. Her magic flared at the unexpected pain and threw away the mass, sending it crashing into the wall behind Hermione. Meanwhile, Hermione had landed painfully on her hands and knees while her beaded bag flew off her arm during the fall.

War reflexes kicked in and while she wandlessly summoned her wand, she tried to take in her surroundings. It was chaos. The mass that hit her turned out to be a dark haired man who had made a giant dent in the wall he hit. Most tourists were screaming and had other pale, beautiful people holding them down, often biting their necks. Great, she thought, vampires. Yet the vampires she had seen previously did not look this beautiful and were not this fast and strong. Not dwelling on that in this dangerous situation since quite a few were staring at her now, she prepared to Apparate away. A true Gryffindor hero would have fought to save the other tourists, but Hermione did not know how to best fight these creatures, there were too many and the tourists all seemed to be either dead or dying already. Yet, she as she tried to focus on a destination, she felt so dizzy, weak and in pain from a horrible burning in her neck that she could not think of a specific place. Soon, she collapsed, dropping her wand, and just as her eyes drifted shut against her will, she saw a dark haired vampire with chalk-like skin, red eyes and a curious expression appear in front of her while there was a voice calling in the distance. Like this, her eyes closed and all she knew was the burning gradually spreading from her neck to the rest of her body.

The pain was incredible. It was like ten, no twenty, simultaneous Crucios from Bellatrix Lestrange. Suddenly, Hermione felt probing at her Occlumency walls that were always there, although weaker due to the pain and distraction. She tried to focus on her walls, to make them infinitely thick, long and wide but it was too much. The pain and the prodding would not allow her to focus. She had not been trained for this! She had not gone through anything like this before! She briefly saw her walls shaking in her mind but soon the pain consumed her thoughts again.

Suddenly, a voice. Voice drifted through her mind that she desperately tried to focus on. It was gentle, light and curious. It was Italian. Then again, in English:

 _Dear one, can you please let me in?_

Hermione wanted to scream and deny it, but what was the point? The pain was unbearable, her walls were shaking and about to crumble anyway when she was able to focus on them and that voice was so light, it sounded so kind that Hermione just gave up. Maybe if she let her walls fall she could focus on the organized library of her mind instead of this pain. Maybe this pain would even stop. This was irrational, she knew somewhere, but she no longer cared. So Hermione let go of her walls, she let them crumble.

While the pain did not lessen, she got flashes of her memories stored in the pages of books: Lisa Murray calling her a teacher's pet as a child, seeing Hogwarts for the first time, staring at the troll in the bathroom in horror and fear, brewing Polyjuice Potion, seeing Harry emerge from the maze with Cedric's body, training at Grimmauld Place with Mad-Eye, seeing Dumbledore's dead body, staring at her dazed parents' faces for the last time, camping with Harry and Ron, destroying a Horcrux, seeing Ron's dead body, hugging Harry goodbye. It was odd, these flashes should have elicited strong emotions, but all Hermione felt was pain, a bit of nostalgia and gratitude for some form of distraction. It felt as though she was detached from those memories, like it was a different life, different Hermione. The only thing that felt real to her now was the pain. Burning pain. And that voice that she heard again, full of fondness and curiosity.

 _Thank you my dear. Do not fear, it will pass. We shall speak soon._

Then nothing but the pain again. She tried to think of her memories, her library, count to a hundred, but the pain kept burning into her thoughts as it burned through her body. Soon, she grew angry. She let the voice in, the pain should have stopped. She felt her magic rise, she tried to focus on it, to do something, anything, but the burning continued to interrupt. Soon, she felt exhausted and once again gave up. All there was was the burning pain. That's it. For a few moments she thought she could hear voices far away but soon that too was gone. Only the pain remained.

Hermione tried one final strategy: to try to separate herself from the pain and calmly analyze the feelings in her body like an experiment. Yes, there was that burn. There were no more voices around her. This was helping a little. She continued trying to notice and feel every detail she could. Eventually, she felt her a spark of magic again. Then another, and another. Soon, she could feel it swimming through her body, filling it along with the burning. Hermione tried to get it to numb her body from the burning and after many tries, it felt as though the magic and the burning were fusing together. Now it was not painful burning, but more as though there was so much energy in her and it was affecting each part of her body. Her skin was tingling strongly, inside it was hot and dynamic and her senses were expanding to where she could hear her breath like it was a strong wind, then receding to where she could hear nothing. At least this was better than the burning.

Eventually, the feelings of tingling and burning receded while the energy and magic grew stronger. Finally, Hermione could feel softness under her, like a mattress and sheets, she could hear footsteps and the clicking of heels and she could smell something delicious, like pineapple, that made her only her throat burn. And throughout all of these sensations, she could feel her magic like never before. It used be a slight bit of extra energy inside of her, lightly caressing her center and waiting to come out. Now, it felt like there was so much extra energy that it no longer fit in just her center. It moved through her body, begging her to release it and use it. Confused, she checked her Occlumency walls. They were tattered, but she could quickly rebuild them and instead of the original infinite brick wall, she made an infinite metal wall, like the fictional Adamantium used on Wolverine in Xmen (she had caught up on some Muggle literature and culture during her travels). Inside, she saw that her library of memories was alright, just a little out of order in places. She promptly put everything in its proper place and added a new bookshelf in which she stored her memories of Volterra, Piazza dei Priori, Heidi, the ballroom, the attack, the burning and the sensations plaguing her when she awoke. Once she was finished, she concentrated on her body once again and felt more detached from the burning in her throat. She still felt it, but was easily able to ignore it. The same happened to the feeling of her magic, some of it was used for Occlumency, and the rest of it was more fully under control now. Hermione was finally ready to open her eyes and deal with whatever she found.


End file.
